Wooden building construction



y 1945- P. R. GO LDMAN WOODEN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet lInvenZbaM Paul R. aozdman July 31, 1945. P. R. GOLDMAN WOODEN BUILDINGCONSTRUCTION 2 t e e h a S t e e h s 2 43% I 2 ll 4 Q\ 9 l ON 5 e n u ud e l 1 F Patented July 31, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFWCE WOODENBUILDING CONSTRUCTION Paul R. Goldman, Andover, Mass.

Application June 5, 1942, Serial No. 445,862

1 Claim.

My present invention relates to building construction, more particularlyfor buildings wholly or mainly of wood or wood compositions andsubstitutes such as the various types of so-called wall-board. Theinvention aims to provide for mass production oi such buildings, throughthe medium of certain novel prei'ormed structural elements speciallyadapted for easy and rapid interiltting assembly at the building site,with a minimum of skilled labor. The knocked-down prefabricated elementsin accordance with the invention may be shipped in lots of any sizeconvenient for the form of transportation available and are deliverabledirectly to the point of building erection in readiness for quickassembly into completed wall and building structures of any selecteddesign, providing a wide range of variation as to location wall openingssuch as those for windows and doors.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating by way of example oneembodiment of the invention. including the novel -means for practicingthe method thereof:

Fig. l is an elevation oi a portion 0! a building well in process oi.assembling, with parts broken away or sectioned to illustrate moreclearly the construction method involved;

Fig. 2 shows one 0! the supports or studs of Fig. l, in side elevation;

Fig. 3 shows in elevation a top plate adapted for use with the wallstructure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view 0! a wall such as that oi Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section similar to a portion of Fig. 4 but upon alarger scale and illustrating the structure and manner or installationof a window-frame or other opening enclosure;

and

Fig. 6 is a vertical section, upon a similar scale as Fig. 5, or thelower portion of a well such as that of Fig. 1, including adjacentflooring.

as noted in the fonemoing statement an important object o! the inventionis the provision o! noveliy preformed building elements adapted ior easyshipment to any building site, where they may quickly be assembled by amere interfltting operation so as to present an immediate complete wallstructure tor the building. One of these elements is a special stud suchas designated generally by the numeral II and one of which is shownseparately in Fig. 2, in side elevation. These studs I. are formed oftimber cut to the length appropriate for the particular building wellThey may have the usual 2 x 4 cross section but preferablyv thedimension 0! their wide faces is somewhat increased relative to that ofthe narrower faces, as for example 2 x 5.

Along the two opposite wide faces of these studs I0 I provide one ormore longitudinal grooves II, I! extending from end to end of theindividual studs and having a substantial depth, desirably at leastabout to inch in a 2-inch stud such as mentioned by way of example.These grooves or slots ii, I! are 01 a width to receive with a slidingfit the wall panelling or panel units to be referred to. Where two ormore such panelling units are to be set in spaced relation to form ahollow wall structure, such as shown, the panelling at the outer and theinner wall faces may be of the same thickness or otherwise, depending onthe type of building and the geographical area where it is to belocated. For the purposes of illustration 1 have her represented theouter panelling as somewhat thicker than that for the inner face of thewall, as appropriate for the cooler or more northerly sections of thiscountry. Accordingly, as best seen in Fig. 2, the outer rabbet formationor groove ii is made correspondingly wider than the other or innergroove II.

In the construction of the building wall of the invention the studs iiare distributed along the course of the wall. where they are held in thedesired spaced relation. A simple and convenient means for this rp secomprises tenons II, II at the respective ends of the studs, thesepreterably being of similar size and shape so that the studs arereversible end for end, The studs are erected upon a wall sill H whichrests on any suitable ioundationsuch as the concrete or other pillarsID. The top face oi the sill H is appropriately mortised a at ll, it forseating reception of the bottom tenons ii.

The spacing of the studs in am given wall structure depend on the widthselected for the panel units. as to which there is considerablelatitude. A convenient panel width, for the average building of thedwelling type is 4 feet or thereabouts.

As herein illustrated the wall structure comprises spaced panel unitsbetween adjacent studs. including outer panels or units 20 andcooperating inner panel units 2i. While these panels 2| and II may be ofany preferred or available wallboard material, including the variouscomposition boards now on the market, I have found plywood to beparticularly suited for the purpose. The thickness or number oi pliesfor such panelling may be selected as appropriate for the givencircumstances. Where. a relatively heavy outer panelling is desired,.the outer panels-II may for example be in. or 96 in. ply-wood incombina-- tion with in. inner panels 2|. As noted, however, otherthicknesses may be employed, and

the inner and the outer panelling elements may be the same in thatrespect.

4 x 4 timber cut to similar length as the studs II and desirablysimilarly formed with end tenons such as 26, 26, Fig. 1. Two angularlyadjacent longitudinal faces of these corner posts II are provided withparallel spaced longitudinal grooves 21, 28 correspondingly spaced atthe respective post faces as the grooves ll, 12 of the studs II, and 01'the corresponding width. As best seen in Fig. 4, the corner portion ofthe posts ll at the juncture oi their grooved faces may be re-- cessedlongitudinally as at 2! to give the eflect of an interior corner finishor moulding "a between the adjacent angularly related inner panelmembers 2|.

The described panel units 2| and II are ini tially fabricated or arepre-cut to length and width as appropriate for the given wall structure,as to the height of wall and the spacing between stud centers. If forinstance it is desired to use panelling of 4 ft. width, with 2 x 5 studshaving grooves of A in. depth, the studs II and corner elements 25 willbe set on centers spaced 4 ft. 1 in. or slightly greater, to insure aneasy sliding flt between the panels and studs. Or the stud centerspacing may be selected-as desired, as 4 ft,, 3 it. 6 in. or otherwise,the panels then being made of the appropriate lesser width, by about 1in., to conform to the stud channeling ll, I2, 21, 28. Theseprefabricated wall elements, including the regular and corner studs IIand 25 and the panels 20, 2| are adapted to be assembled into a wallstructure by a mere interfltting procedure, as will be readily apparentfrom a consideration oi lf'lg. l and a comparison thereof with the otherviews.

Assuming a sill such as the member ll to be in position, the wallerection maybe started at any point or simultaneously at a number ofpoints along the course of the wall. .Any two or more adjacent studs ll,or a corner post II and one or more adjacent studs ll may be set up inplace as represented in Fig. 1, with their bottom tenons It or seated inthe sill mortises it already provided for the purpose. The panellingbetween their vertical edges to the comparatively slight amountnecessaryto spring them into interfltted relation with'the'edge-receiving grooves.

of the uprights II and 25.

One importantadvantage of the hollow or douhie-wall structure such asherein disclosed is the facility with which insulation may be installedbetween the outer and inner wall members or panels 20 andil which spacealso is readily available for concealed positioning of piping, wiringand other conduits and usual building equipment. A:' convenient form ofinsulation is that of quilting or padding, of any preferred mineral orvegetable material available for the purpose, such as represented at IIat the central panel area of Fig. 1. After installing the outer panel2|, as at the location just referred to, this insulating material 3| maybe laid up flatwise against it and secured in any convenient manner asby tacking to the adjacent studs it; or it may merely be insertedbetween the studs and temporarily held until the cooperating inner panelII is slid or sprung into assembled position where it will retain theinsulation without further attachment.

In many installations it-is found structurally suiiicient merely tobring the bottom edge of the exterior panelling 20 down flush on the topface of the sill I4 or other wall base. If preferred however the sillelement such. as It may be grooved along its top lace in conformity withthe grooving II, I! of the'studs II and 21, II of the corner posts 2!.Or such bottom grooving may be provided only for the outer panels 1., asherein represented at Ila.

In the illustrated construction, wherein ease and speed of erection ofthe building is a priis then interiltted with the studs, by engaging theopposite vertical edges of the individual panel units 20 and ii in thecorresponding oppositely disposed grooves ii, I! of the studs and 21, 28of the posts. It will generally be found more convenient first toposition the outer panels 2., for one or more of the inter-stud spaces.This may readily be accomplished by placing what is'to be the bottomportion of the panel into the upp r sliding or allowing the panel todrop down into mary consideration, it is contemplated that the innerpanelling units II will stand upon the flooring. in some such manner asbest seen in Fig. 6. Referring to said figure, the iioor joists or beams32 may be individually positioned in the usual manner with their outerends on the wall sill, the flooring 33, including an under or roughfloor and a top or finish floor, or merely a' single flooring layer,being laid on the joists in the usual manner.

Generally, however, and in keeping with the purpose or prefabricationand quick assembly at the building site, the flooring will be suppliedin preassembled sections, including the joists and the floor boards,ready to be laid in place upon the sills, girders or other supports. Thejoist I and flooring 33 of Fig. 8 may be regarded as representing anouter portion of such sectionalized flooring in which the door boardshave a le th. as illustrated, to extend out beyond the vertical plane ofthe inner panelling Ii, to reends of the corresponding stud grooves II,II and place between the studs, the panel riding down along in and beingguided by the stud grooving in this assembling operation. Anotherconvenient procedure is to erect a corner post 2|, or any intermediatestud ll, then insert the vertical edge of a panel 28 or 2| into theappropriate groove of the erected element, or similarly toposition boththe outer and the inner panels, and then set up and interflt the stud atthe opposite ver-' tical edges of such panelling. Still another methodof assembly, applicable generally to the lighter or more flexible panelunits is to flexor bow them ceive the bottom edge of the latter. Orthese in- 1,181 panels 2! may set down onto the floor joists As abovenoted. he Outer panels ll extend down and rest on the top face of thesill It, or set in the base groove Ila of the latter. Since both outerand inner panels preferably terminate at the same level along their topedges, as represented at the right-hand panel area of Fig. 1. the innerpanels II are made shorter than the outer panels 20, by an extentcorresponding to the vertical distance between the top face of the sill,or the bottom of the sill groove a where such is employed. and the levelof the innermpanell suporting portion of the joist and flooring ons.

panels, the wall is finished on by the in tall tion of a top plate 35,Fig. 3, of a length corresponding to the number of panel areas along thegiven wall or wall portion. As seen at the sectioned portion of saidFig. 3, the underface of this top plate is appropriately grooved as at36, 31 for interfitting reception of the top edges of the wall panelling20 and 2|. Likewise the top plate 35 is provided with mortises 38, 33 toreceive the top tenons I3, I3, etc. of the studs l and the top tenon 26of any corner or end post 25. It will be understood that the adjoiningpanel elements for any continuing wall portion will. be installed beforethe top plate such as 35 for any given length of the wall structure isset in place. If one or more additional floors are to be erected upon awall such as described in connection with Fig. 1, the upper face of thetop plate 35 may be grooved similarly as at its under face or as at thetop face of the sill N, or in the case of a one story or one story andattic building, the ceiling beams or the attic floor beams and the ridgerafters may be installed in the customary manner directly on the topplate such as 35.

Another feature of particular importance in accordance with theprefabricated and interfltting wall construction of my invention residesin the installation and arrangement of windows, doors or other wallopenings. By reason of the non-sectionalized but interfittingbuilt-in-place character of my wall elements, any such openings may belocated at whatever points they may be desired along the wall. Thus witha given supply of the studs,'posts and panels, a

wide range of variation is available as to the 3 window and doorarrangement.

Assume for example that a quantity of. the individual studs, posts andpanels are at hand for constructing at the selected location arectangular building 24 by 28 feet, or 6 by 7 panel units in depth andlength. Windows and doors may be placed at any or all of the twenty-sixpanel positions, six at either end of the building and seven each at thefront and rear. All that need be determined in advance is the totalnumber of windows and of doors for the given building; these may then bearranged along the walls to suit the circumstances and dictates of theparticular case. Or where more than one building is to be erected at agiven territory, or in the same general neighborhood, even the totalnumbers of windows and doors may be varied between individual buildings,within the limits of the total material supply available for the entireplurality of buildings. This makes for wide latitude of architecturaldesign and pleasing variation in structural arrangement among theindividual buildings, such as those of the numerous industrial and warhousing projects now contemplated.

In ordinary wooden buildin construction special positioning andsupporting members for window and door frames are built into place asthe framework of the building is put up. The studding customarily is seton 18 in. or 24 in. cen ters. At each window or other opening at leastone stud must be cut away. The remaining short lengths of stud above andbelow the window opening have to be braced and supported by crossmembers, generally of similar 2 x 4 material as the studs. And unlessthe required opening happens to have the proper width and to be solocated as to bring its vertical sides at two studs, such sides of theopening must also be defined by 2 x 4 studding, for which still otherbracing members may be needed. Once such wall-aperture framing has beenbuilt in to the wall framework considerable waste of material and laboris involved in making any substantial change in the location of theopening.

In contrast with such usual construction, my invention makes possiblethe locating, arrangement and rearrangement of window and door openingson the job, as the given wall is assembled; or the panelling units mayreadily be shifted about even after assemblage, with the beneficialresults as above noted.

Referring now to Fig. 5 in this connection, the latter is a horizontalsection through a wall structure of the invention, corresponding forexample to any unit panel area of Fig. 4, on a somewhat larger scale.The section is taken at a horizontal level cutting through the wallopening anywhere above its bottom edge. Two adjacent studs l0, H) areseen in section, defining a panel unit area between them, together withthe adjacent sideportions of the outer and inner panels 2|] and 2| atthe opposite sides of said area.

The wall opening to be provided at any selected panel unit area, as thatbetween said studs I0 of Fig. 5, and whether for a window or for a door,

A is defined or located and outlined solely by the panel units 20 and 2|themselves. These outer and inner panels 20, 2| simply have registeringopenings cut in them, of the'proper size to receive the window frame orthe door frame as the case may be and to position and support such frameby means of the opening bordering portions of the panels themselves.

The frames to be thus installed may be similar to those customary forwood construction, being of the selected size and form, generallyrectangular, and comprising a. bottom cross member or sill 4D, the twoside uprights 4|, 4| and a top piece, not shown, together forming theusual type of box-like window or door frame.

The two vertical side members 4| f these window or door frames howeverare provided with special channelling or groove formations forcooperation with the wall panels. As herein illustrated in Fig. 5 theyare longitudinally recessed at the exterior and the interior cornerportions of their outer side faces, as indicated at 42 and 43. Therecess 42 which is to come in line with the outer panel 20 isdimensioned to fit such panel. Similarly the corner recessing 43 at theinner portion of the frame sides 4| is dimensioned to fit the innerpanel 2|. If desired, one or both horizontal members of the frames maybe similarly channelled for interfitting engagement with correspondingportions of the respective panels. For door openings the panels may becut out fully to their bottom edges, so that the door frame will setdirectly upon the foundation sill.

To install a window frame or door frame at any selected location betweenadjacent studs I0,

or between a stud l0 and an adjacent corner post 25, it is merelynecessary to select the properly apertured outer and inner panels 20 and2|. The panel openings may but cut at the mill and these frame-receivingpanels shipped in fully prefabricated condition, or regular panels 20and 2| may be cut out on the building job. At the desired inter-studlocation an apertured outer panel 20 is slidingly or otherwiseinterfitted into the stud or post grooving. The window or door frame isthen thrust into position in the panel aperture, generally from theinterior face of the wall toward the outside as indicated by the arrowin Fig. 5.'the outer corner grooving l2 of the frame sides beingiittedto the vertical edges of the outer panel opening. Any insulatingmaterial may then be put in place at the inner face of the outer panel20. The inner panel 2| is then interfltted into the grooving I! of thestuds and 43 of the frame sides either by bowing and springing the panelinto place, or by sliding it down from the topof inner panel ii toassume its interfitted position about the frame, as represented in Fig.5, as the panel opening comes into registry with the frame, the latterthen being positioned and firmly supported by both the outer and theinner panel units 20 and 2|.

Followin such installation of a window or door frame the usual casingstrips, such as represented in dotted line at 44, 45 may be applied overthe joints between the frame and the framereceiving portions of thepanels.

From the above description in connection with Fig. 5 it will be apparentthat a window or door frame may be disposed at any desired locationalong the course of the wall, and that such location may be altered atany time merely by substituting apertured panels in lieuof plain ones,and vice versa. Even after complete erection of a wall structure,shifting about of the location of openings may be effected with littledifllculty, it generally being found practicable to withdraw an entireapertured wall section, including the window or door frame and theassociated outer and inner panels and 2| as an assembled unit and toreinsert them at some other location between two studs or a stud and acorner post.

An interfitted wall structure of prefabricated matching individual stud,post, panel, sill and plate elements such as herein disclosed, adaptedfor convenient shipment to the place of erection in non-sectionalizedfully knocked-down form may in accordance with the method of theinvention be assembled substantially without the use of the usualfastening means of a more or .7 shipped for nirther erection whereverthere is a demand. for housing. Thuswhile the resulting wall structureis rug ed and weatherproof, suitable for permanent erection in anylocality, it

has the further distinctadvantage, in connection withthe system andmethod of theinvention, of

. the capacity to be knocked-down and reassembled withllttle or nomar-ring or iniuryto the constituent 'parte. Hence it is economicallycompatible. with building of the prospective more temporary characterfor which there is presently such widespread requirement.

Itwill be understood that my invention, either V as to means or method,is not limited to the exemplary embodiment or steps herein illustratedor described, and I set forth its scope in my following claim.

I claim:

The method of building wall construction for portable or prefabricatedbuildings which comprises longitudinally grooving the opposite sidefaces of studs along similarly spaced parallel lines, erecting the studsalong the course of a wall, assembling outer and inner plywood wallpanels of an integrally continuous width conforming to the spacingbetween the inner portions of opposed grooves of each two adjacentstuds, aperturing pairs of outer and inner panels to form registeringwindow and door recesses respectively,

erecting wall panels by slidably' interflttlng the side edges of thenon-apertured outer and inner panels and of one apertured panel of eachpair thereof into the corresponding outer and inner stud grooves toprovide a double-panelled wall at non-apertured areas, verticallychanneling window and door frames at their respective vertical cornerportions inserting the window and door less permanent nature, such asnails, screws, an-

frames respectively into the recesses of the erected single aperturedpanels and interfltting with such frames and the corresponding studssimilar apertured panels to complete a double-panelled wall structurethereat wherein the window frames are positioned and supported whollydirectly by the aperture-bordering portions of the corresponding panelsand the door frames are similarly positioned at their sides and top,installing insulating material in the inter-panel spaces, and coveringsaid spaces and longitudinally interconnecting the studs and panelsalong their top portions.

. PAUL R. GOLDMAN.

